This application claims the priority of German Application No. 101 16 944.2 filed Apr. 5, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to an apparatus arranged at the output end of a carding machine for charging a coiler can with outputted sliver. The coiler can is of the type that has a flat design, that is, it has an elongated horizontal outline. The sliver is deposited in coils in the can by a rotary coiler head, while the rotary head and the coiler can shift relatively to one another. When the desired fill level is reached in the can, the coiler head moves perpendicularly to the longitudinal can axis over an empty, standby can, and further, the filled can is replaced by an empty can which thus becomes the new standby can.
German patent document 43 33 730, to which corresponds U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,869, discloses an apparatus in which the sliver is advanced from a carding machine to a coiler can station and is introduced there in an oblique intake device of the coiler head. Simultaneously with the rotation of the coiler head, the coiler can supporting device executes a linear back-and-forth motion with the coiler can with strokes parallel to, and equaling the horizontal can length.
Because of such a reciprocating motion during the sliver deposition, the sliver is disadvantageously exposed to an undesired, alternating pull. It is a further drawback that the coiler can switch (that is, the shift of the coiler head from above the filled coiler can over an empty coiler can) and the coiler can replacement (that is, the supply and removal of an empty and, respectively, a filled can to and from the coiler head) occur simultaneously. During such an occurrence the coiler head is, with the sliver, first shifted in one direction and subsequently in an opposite direction, whereby the sliver is exposed to an additional undesired draft. It is yet another disadvantage that such a conventional apparatus is of complex construction.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus and method of the above-outlined type from which the discussed disadvantages are eliminated and which makes possible the deposition of a uniform sliver in a particularly simple manner.
This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the apparatus for charging a flat coiler can with sliver is combined with a carding machine. The apparatus is disposed at the outlet of the carding machine and includes a rotary coiler head receiving sliver from the carding machine outlet and depositing the sliver in coils in the coiler can. The coiler can is reciprocated underneath the coiler head in a first direction for depositing sliver along a coiler can length extending parallel to the first direction. When charging of the coiler can is concluded, a device shifts the coiler head in a second direction over an additional coiler can for switching coiler cans from a full can to an empty can. A slack forming device for forming a slack in the sliver is arranged between the carding machine outlet and the coiler head.
By virtue of the sliver slack forming device, an undesired draft (tensioning) of the sliver is avoided or compensated for. Because coiler can switching and coiler can replacement occur consecutively, additional displacement effects on the sliver and thus undesired additional sliver tensioning is counteracted, and also, the coiler can replacement may occur parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cans.